Targeting best of best

STOCKTON - The process of becoming a police officer is long and sometimes arduous. It involves extensive background checks, physical tests, written tests, psychological tests, even lie-detector tests.

Jason Anderson

STOCKTON - The process of becoming a police officer is long and sometimes arduous. It involves extensive background checks, physical tests, written tests, psychological tests, even lie-detector tests.

"The process is very comprehensive, and it's there for a reason," Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones said. "We only want to hire the best candidates to be police officers."

Jones presided over a ceremony Wednesday in the Community Room at the Stockton Police Department to swear in three new officers who passed the tests. Standing before a collection of family, friends and new colleagues, Officers Mike Espinoza, Joseph Jordan and Ny Tran received their badges after taking an oath to protect and serve.

The day represented the start of their law enforcement careers, but it marked the merciful end of an extensive application and hiring process that can take six months to a year to complete, they said.

"It was not quick and easy at all," Tran said. "It was pretty long, and it was nerve-racking. You would have to wait days and days for the Background Investigations Unit to call you back and let you know what was going on."

Espinoza agreed.

"It's very long and stressful," he said. "There are a lot of times you think you're not going to make it because it's so long. You're always thinking, 'Am I going to make it or not?' The hardest part was waiting - waiting and not knowing."

Jones said recruits begin by submitting an application to the Police Department's human resources department. All applicants must be at least 21 years old with a high school diploma and a valid driver's license.

Applicants are then given a written test and a physical test. The written test quizzes them on basic arithmetic, reading comprehension and grammar. The physical test requires them to run, hop over a small fence, climb over a 51/2-foot fence and drag a sand-filled dummy a set distance.

The candidates are ranked based on scores, and their applications are sent to police recruiters. Along with the application, candidates are required to complete a lengthy personal history statement, including disclosure of past drug use, gang affiliations and any criminal history, Jones said.

The Police Department then conducts a thorough background check, which includes verifying information in the candidate's application, speaking to references and looking at driving records. Applicants then receive a medical exam, take another written test and a psychological test before meeting with a police psychologist, Jones said.

Candidates are then subjected to voice-stress analysis or polygraph exams to verify information provided in their personal history statements.

"You ask them have they used certain drugs, have you been in gangs, have you stolen or been a criminal, whether they got caught or didn't get caught," Jones said. "The purpose is to determine if they were truthful in their application, and untruthfulness is an automatic disqualifier."

Jones noted that the Police Department has streamlined the application process to four to five months in some cases after hiring 120 new officers since 2012. The process remains very thorough, but the true test of an officer's character is administered on the streets, Jones said.

"The amount of power that you wield as a police officer is probably one of the most stringent tests you go through," Jones said. "What other occupation do you uphold constitutional law, have the power to take somebody's life if necessary, to incarcerate somebody if necessary, to take a child out of a home if necessary? It's a great amount of power, and with that comes a tremendous amount of responsibility, so we need to - not just want, but need to - ensure that we're getting the most professional, upstanding candidates to become police officers."